First Dance
by Elise Marie
Summary: After Harry has kissed Ginny and left the Gryffindor party, Ron and Hermione start talking about things that have been happening in the past year. Then they share their first dance. This is 7th in my "First" Series, but only the 5th needs reading.


**Title: **First Dance

**Book: **Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

**Spoilers: **Up until page 499 of HBP, the chapter "Sectumsepra".

**Warnings: **None.

**Rating: **T/PG-13. Slight adult-ish theme.

**Category: **Ron/Hermione romance.

**Summary: **After Harry has kissed Ginny and left the Gryffindor party, Ron and Hermione start talking about things that have been happening in the past year. Then they share their first dance.

**Disclaimer: All characters and the universe they exist in belong to J.K Rowling and her publishers. This piece of fan-fiction was created solely for entertainment purposes and no money was exchanged. No copyright infringement was intended and the original characters, situations and plots are property of the author. This piece of fan-fiction must not be archived without the author's consent.**

**Author's Notes: **This is 7th in my "First" series and there are mentions of some of the earlier ones in this so it might be better to have read them. Things are finally starting to build up… but to what? And I just have to say thank you to everyone who has read the 5th First – "First Daydream". In one day it had almost as many readers as the first 4 put together! Thank you!

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Ron watched as his best friend and baby sister left the Gryffindor common room and the Quidditch Cup party. His best friend and his baby sister, the thought kept rattling around his brain. He did not feel quite as angry or repulsed as he did concerning Ginny's previous boyfriends, but he still felt odd about it. He tried to keep the thought that neither would hurt the other in his mind, that of all the other people Ginny could date, Harry was decent. What did keep nagging at him, however, was the worry that he would have to spend a lot more time with his younger sister. When Ron had started seeing Lavender, he had wanted to spend a lot of time with her. He knew that there had been comments from Ginny and plenty of others concerning his behaviour when with Lavender and the very overt public displays of affection. He was not sure he could handle those displays between his best friend and his younger sister. Would Harry still be his best friend? Or would he spend all of his time with Ginny, forgetting about Ron and Hermione?

Ron tried to relax at the party which was happening all around him. His eyes scanned the crowd, trying to find something to cheer him up. He was immensely happy that they had won the Cup, but that did not appear to be enough to keep his mood bolstered. His eyes fell on Dean Thomas standing on the other side of the room, a look of thunder on his face. Ron continued to look around the room until his eyes fell upon Lavender Brown. She looked sorrowful, talking to Parvati Patel. Ron was still very glad that things had finally ended between him and Lavender, but he did hold some guilt as to how it happened. As if she sensed someone looking at her, Lavender happened to glance up and saw Ron. Her face reddened and then screwed up as she turned and ran. Ron's guilt increased whilst his mood decreased in that moment as he saw his ex-girlfriend run crying from the room. Parvati looked at him, shot daggers with her eyes and then ran after her best friend. He wondered if the two girls were cursing him under their breaths right now. He felt like utter rubbish on the amazing day that they had won the Cup. He shook his head to himself again, still trying in vain to find someone in the common room that could help cheer him up.

Then his eyes fell on it: Hermione, standing in the very centre of the room, talking to Neville. Maybe she could help cheer him up.

Hermione was busy chatting to Neville about his Mimbulus Mimbletonia in the Gryffindor common room. She did not often attend these parties because she easily found herself feeling out of place. This afternoon was not really very different, but she had remained at first to wait for Harry to return. She had wanted to see his reaction and hope that it cheered him up somewhat. After she had watched from the other side of the room as Ginny had flung herself at Harry, Hermione had realised that his mood was alright. She was then, however, worried for Ron. Before she had had the chance to seek out Ron, Hermione had found herself in a conversation with Neville. Despite the loud music and background noise of all the other Gryffindor students, Hermione could still hear Neville extorting the positive attributes of his plant. She glanced around, trying to locate Ron and see if he was okay with the recent development. She knew that it had probably been a shock for Ron to see, although Hermione had been fully aware of both Harry and Ginny's growing feelings. As she glanced around she saw Lavender Brown and Parvati Patel, the former seemed to see her and then look away. The fellow Gryffindor girl despised Hermione because of her friendship with Ron and it caused some problems with them sharing the same dormitory. Lavender looked past Hermione and then burst into tears before fleeing from the room. Hermione turned around, smiling and nodding at Neville as she did. Apparently the Mimbulus Mimbletonia had reached the stage in its development where it was now making crooning noises. From where she had turned to, Hermione found the source of Lavender's tears: Ron Weasley. Their eyes met and she smiled slightly at him, pleased to see that he smiled back at her.

"Will you excuse me please, Neville? I'm really sorry, but I must talk to Ron."

"No problem," he answered. "I might go check on my Mimbulus."

"You do that." They both walked off in opposite directions; Neville toward the boys' dormitory and Hermione toward Ron. She looked back at him and saw him trying to make his own way through the crowd. They both met in the middle somewhere, surrounded by their house-mates. She had no real idea what he was feeling concerning his sister and friend, but she did know that she was his best friend and he may need someone to talk to. "Hey," she smiled at him, leaning toward him to be heard.

"Hey," he greeted back. He was surprised that she was still at the party, but very glad that she was. He hated the fact that he was having such a rubbish time and if Harry could not cheer him up, maybe Hermione could.

"That was a great game," she said. They were standing quite close together, him bending his neck slightly whilst she extended hers in an attempt to get their heads closer to hear each other. Doing this, they could maintain some distance between their faces and still have a conversation.

"Thanks, did you really understand what was going on?" he asked. Everyone knew that whilst Hermione was incredibly knowledgeable about a lot, she did not have that much of an idea about Quidditch.

She paused and then laughed. "I know we won and that you did an excellent job guarding the goal."

He laughed at her statement. "Thank you, Hermione. I needed someone to say something to cheer me up."

Even though she knew that he was probably thinking about Ginny and Harry, she still questioned him. "Ron, you just helped win the Quidditch Cup, why are you not happy?"

He sighed and looked around the room slightly. There were people all around them but everyone seemed so wrapped up in themselves that he figured he could tell her the truth despite the lack of privacy. "I'm chuffed about it, but there's plenty of people in here that aren't too happy with me. And Harry's run off with Ginny." He feared that he sounded like a child, but then he figured he was still technically a child.

Hermione placed a comforting hand on his upper right arm. "Firstly, Harry hasn't run off with her. They've gone for a walk and chat. He's still going to be your best friend, you know? Secondly, Lavender will stop crying over you one day."

His shoulder felt incredibly warm where she was touching him and he liked it. It was not enough to take his mind off his troubles. "It's just odd. What's going to happen this summer at mine? Is he going to play Quidditch with me or just sit somewhere snogging her face off?" He did not want to lose his best friend or see the mental image of him snogging his little sister's face off. "How am I supposed to complain to him about my brat of a sister? What if he hurts her?"

Hermione shook her head. "Harry would never intentionally hurt anyone, especially not Ginny. He cares too much for her and all of your family. You Weasley's allowed him in. You all allow anyone in. Harry and I both love your family, very dearly." She could not help but remember the other day when he had declared he loved her for helping him with some homework. Her relationship with Ron and his family was so very different to anything she could have foreseen. "You'll just have to find someone else to complain to about Ginny and if he does sit there snogging her face off, you just spent weeks doing the same thing with Lavender."

He looked her in the eye, trying to gauge if that final part had been said with anger. There had been definite hostility between the pair of them whilst he had been dating Lavender, until the poisoning incident. He could remember dreaming about Hermione, dreaming that she was just beyond his reach and that he needed her. If he called to her, she would come and help him. Or at least, that was what DreamRon had thought. "I just don't want it change my friendship with him like me and Lavender did to us."

Part of her wanted to correct his grammar and part of her just wanted to hug him tightly. She had missed their friendship incredibly during his relationship with Lavender. She had felt completely outcast by him and it had not been until his unfortunate poisoning and his subsequent calling out of her name, that she had realised their friendship would remain throughout anything. Hermione had been concerned when her jealous, angry feelings had developed. She had feared that the lust and sexual attraction she had possibly felt the year before were true. It had not taken long for her to realise that, it was her friendship with Ron which she missed and him calling her name proved that she was still important to him. No one else would be able to change that for any of them. Hermione knew in the deepest part of her heart that nothing could harm the friendship between Ron, Harry and herself. "Ron, after you were poisoned you were still seeing Lavender, but our friendship was fine. We're all growing up and changing and certain things need to adapt, but nothing will ever stop the three of us being best friends. We're all growing old together."

His heart gave a sudden stronger beat at the mention of growing old together and he had no idea why. There was some truth in what she said concerning their friendship so maybe the next time he started dating someone or she did, they would not have the same problems as they had with Lavender. Something troubled Ron about her theory, though. He had awoken from his poisoning knowing that he no longer wanted to be with Lavender so maybe that was why his friendship with Hermione had been fixed. With that theory, though, their friendship would be strained any time either of them had a girl or boyfriend. He did not want to think about that possibility right now. Instead, Ron smiled at her. "I guess you're right. It'll just take some getting used to."

She nodded at him. "Yes, and we have just over a year left here so if Lavender doesn't forgive us, we don't have that much time to suffer."

"Forgive _us_?" he questioned.

"Don't be so silly, Ron, you heard her." Hermione had increased her distance from Ron during his relationship with Lavender because Lavender had clearly had a dislike for their friendship. "She thought we were up to something the night you two broke up. She constantly saw me as the other woman. She was unable to see that it was just friendship between us." Somehow that final sentence stuck in her throat and she hoped that Ron had not noticed.

Before he could answer her, a first year pushed past them and apologised as they continued on past. Hermione was pushed closer to Ron, steadying herself against him with the hand that was still on his upper arm. His hands came up to aid her, grabbing hold of her waist and once they had recovered both smiled and laughed at each other. There was something about that final sentence which jarred with Ron, but he could not explain it. "Bloody first years," he grumbled and Hermione giggled. He knew that he had never thought of Hermione as the other woman, he had never considered snogging her face off.

"I'm sure we were just as ignorant." Hermione was very close to his chest now and only inches away from his face. His hands were still around her waist. Her right hand had automatically come up to fall on his bent elbow when they had collided. The parallels between their current position and that of a dancing stance did not escape her. Hermione remembered back to fourth year when she had attended the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum and how she had wanted Ron to ask her. Was this how he would have held her then? Her mouth felt dry and no amount of swallowing changed the situation. She could feel the heat from his chest radiating through her clothes and warming her entire body. Memories of a year ago flooded her mind, the day when she had sneakily watched him getting dressed and had seen his chest naked. It was the same chest that she was now pressed against.

He nodded mutely at her because his tongue seemed to have stopped working. He had never been this close to Hermione for an extended period of time before. Sure, they had hugged on occasion, but this somehow felt very different. He could feel her breathing against him, her chest rising and falling against his. He could feel the warmth of her hand on his upper right arm and lower left arm. He could almost feel her heartbeat through her chest. His own heart rate had increased and he could have sworn that they were breathing in time to each other. He became distantly aware of the music and suddenly blurted out: "Do you want to dance?"

Overcoming the new sensations and thoughts coursing through her, Hermione laughed at his request to which he looked puzzled. "It's just," she answered him, "we pretty much already are. We just have to start swaying." He nodded as if he had just been informed how to dance and then started to move very slightly side to side, taking her with him and their bodily contact never breaking. She had thought about them dancing before and was amazed at how it felt in reality. His hands were burning into her waist and the smell that was distinctly Ronald Weasley completely surrounded her. Everyone else in the room disappeared and it was just the two of them, dancing in their own world.

"I've never, actually, uh, danced, technically." He knew that he was mumbling and stuttering and not making much sense. He was not sure what exactly was happening inside of his mind and body, but he did know that he was dancing with Hermione and he never wanted it to end. He had wanted to find Hermione to help cheer him up during this celebration and she had done far more than that. It was true that he had never really danced with anyone before, but then Ron had only had his first kiss that year as well. The realisation dawned that dancing with Hermione felt far better than any kiss with Lavender. What would kissing Hermione feel like?

"Oh, well," she stumbled, "you're dancing very well." He smiled at her praise and then seemed to hold her tighter, making Hermione's heart jump, stomach flip flop and breathing halt. She reminded herself to breathe again and tried to ignore the feeling in her stomach. It was the same feeling that she had had when she had studied his naked chest and back a year ago and many times since. When he had jokingly declared his love for her because of a piece of work, she had flip-flopped. When he had called her name whilst unconscious, she had flip-flopped. Whenever they had touched each other in a completely platonic way, she had flip-flopped. Hermione had tried for months to ignore it. She had chosen to blame her hormones the day that she had watched Ron, ignoring any other thoughts. Standing this close to him, feeling him pressed so impossibly close to her, Hermione could no longer ignore those other thoughts. There was nothing platonic about her thoughts toward him.

"Thanks," he replied, feeling a lot better about dancing with her now. He still could not shake the thought of what it would be like to kiss her and as she moved her head to rest her cheek on his chest, the desire to kiss her increased. If there had been any doubt that she could hear his heart beating within his chest, it evaporated; her ear was directly above his heart. He had never felt this nervous or happy or excited all at once. Ron wanted to capture this moment and replay it forever.

Hermione leant her head against his chest and listened to his heart beat, glad to hear it beating just as fast as hers was. The sound of it drowned out the music, but they kept dancing. She sighed in contentment hoping that this moment would never end. There was a desire burning within her to move just slightly and bring their lips closer. Her lips dried out as if on cue with her thought and she licked them, trying to raise the courage to act on her thought. Her arms were now wrapped around his neck and his had moved further around her body to hug her to him. They continued to sway, but Hermione doubted that it was in time to the music.

They remained in silence, dancing from the right to the left and holding each other closely. They had each closed their eyes in at attempt to preserve the moment, trying to burn it into their eyelids and memory forever. Just as the crowd of Gryffindor's had melted away from around them, the noise of the students and the music drifted away to leave them in magical silence. All that Hermione could hear was Ron's heart beating a regular rhythm against her ear. It had steadied now into a regular thump-thump. Ron could hear his own breathing and the thumping of his veins within his head. He moved his right hand from Hermione's lower back and started stroking circular motions on top of her shirt. She shivered into him and he smiled as she then held him a little bit tighter. It was an almost imperceptible difference in pressure, but his entire body was on high alert and felt it. Ron had no idea if she was feeling anything like he was and whilst he did have an urging to kiss her, he was not fully prepared to make a fool of himself. Whilst he knew how this dance felt to him, Ron had no idea what Hermione was thinking. As far as he was aware, she saw him as just a friend. He brought his head down lower and rested his cheek against the top of her head just as he felt his stomach grumble very violently. Immediately, Ron raised his head and his cheeks flushed as red as his hair. It must be coming on for dinner time and Ron's stomach was like clock-work. Never before had Ron hated his own stomach and need for food.

Hermione heard and felt Ron's stomach grumble and then the pressure of his head on hers left. They both stopped moving and the noise of the party around them crashed back in on top of them. She wanted to laugh at all of the times that Ron's eating habits annoyed her and at how Ron's need for constant food had annoyed her. Remaining in their hug for just a few moments, Hermione considered her new thoughts and feelings. Yes, she had enjoyed every single moment of this impromptu dance and she still had the desire to kiss him right now, but reality had set in. She pulled away from him and took a step backwards. She smiled at him, noticing his strongly blushed cheeks. This was not the right time and she had no idea about whether he reciprocated her feelings. There was too much going on right now and too much at stake. There was something brewing with Harry and Dumbledore without forgetting about Voldemort and the Death Eaters as well.

"Do you want to get some dinner?" she asked.

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The End


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